Election 2012 in New Mexico

Elections are about people and choices. They’re about the relationship between a government and its policies and the ordinary citizens who vote that government in - or out.

New Mexicans can soon start to vote in the general election.

Absentee voting begins Oct. 9, and people can go to their county clerk's office to cast a ballot in person. Voter registration also ends then, making it possible for New Mexicans to register and vote on that same day.

Early voting starts Oct. 20 at alternate polling locations established by the clerks and continues through Nov. 3.

Election Day is Nov. 6 and that's also the deadline for returning absentee ballots.

A new statewide poll commissioned by The Albuquerque Journal shows more than half of the state's voters back expanding the state's Medicaid rolls to cover 170,000 low-income residents.

The Journal poll found that 53 percent of likely voters surveyed back boosting eligibility to allow low-income children, seniors, pregnant women and the disabled sign up for the federal-state health insurance program.

KUNM Call In Show 8/16 8a: Secretary of State Dianna Duran is following through on a U.S. Department of Justice letter calling for New Mexico's record of registered voters to be cleaned up for the first time since 2005. But critics are accusing her of voter suppression. Why the voter roll "purge" now? And what does it mean for New Mexico voters? Secretary Duran will join our panel live in the studio for the show. 

New Mexico Voter View Website

KUNM Call In Show 5/31 8a: Are people voting illegally in New Mexico?  Are people being denied their legitimate voting rights?  

Guests: UNM Professor Lonna Atkeson; Jared Hamilton, Hispanos Unidos; Representative Cathryn Brown

Voter ID Laws in the U.S. 

A year ahead of the 2012 presidential election both Democrats and Republicans are competing for Hispanic votes. In states like Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona the Hispanic vote could tip the scale in favor of one party over the other. Yesterday White House officials went to Las Cruces to hold a community summit aimed at Hispanics.  From the Fronteras Changing America Desk, Monica Ortiz Uribe reports many voters in that area are still undecided.

Hundreds of Hispanic Republicans are gathering today in Albuquerque hoping to build momentum ahead of next year's presidential election. As Monica Ortiz Uribe reports from the Fronteras Changing America Desk, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanic voters in the country.